When a rainforest is disturbed, such as by hurricane,
lightning strikes or human activity,
the disturbed area is opened, permitting the penetration of large amounts of light.

Fast growing plant species intolerant of shade are
temporarily favored
and a tangle of thin-boled trees, shrubs and vines result.

Like a huge, dense pile carpet, a mass of greenery, or
"jungle",
soon covers the gap created by the disturbance.

Another explanation:

A tropical rainforest has more kinds of trees and other
plant life than any other area of the world. Most trees in the tropical rainforest are
broad leaf trees that grow closely together. The tallest trees may grow as tall as 200
feet. The tops, called crowns, form a covering of leaves about 100-150 feet above the
ground. This cover is called the upper canopy. The crowns of the smaller trees form one or
two lower canopies. These canopies share the forest floor so that it receives less than
one percent as much sunlight as does the upper canopy. As a result, only ferns and other
plants requiring little sunlight grown on the forest floor. This makes it possible for a
person to easily walk through most parts of a tropical rainforest.
However, areas of dense growth occur where much sunlight reaches the ground. These areas
are called jungles and grow in swamps, near broad rivers or in former clearings.

According to www.dictionary.com whose source is Webster's Revised
Unabridged Dictionary,
the definition of "amazon" is:

One of a fabulous race of female warriors in Scythia; hence,
a female warrior.

A tall, strong masculine woman; a virago

A name numerous species of South American parrots of the
genus Chrysotis

According to WordNet, the
definition of "amazon" is:

A large strong and aggressive woman

(Greek mythology) one of a nation of women warriors of
Scythia (who burned off the right breast in order to use a bow and arrow more effectively

A major South American river; flows into the Atlantic; the
world's 2nd longest river (4000 miles)

Mainly green tropical American parrots

According to Webster's New
Twentieth Century Dictionary Unabridged Second Edition:

In Greek Mythology, a female warrior of a race supposed to
have lived in Scythia, near the Black Sea

a woman or girl soldier

a large, strong, masculine woman; a virago

a South American parrot of the genus Chrysotis

any of the South American hummingbirds

an Amazon ant

You will note that NONE of the definitions associate
"jungle" or "rainforest" with the definition of Amazon.

However, in everyday language "amazon" most
commonly refers as equally to "rainforest" and-or "jungle" as it does
to the actual river and river basin itself.

So, is the Amazon a "rainforest" or a
"jungle"?
Both, depending on where you are in the Amazon.

According to Grolier Inc, there are two major types of
rainforests:

tropical, characterized by broadleaf evergreen trees that
form a closed canopy, below which is found a zone of vines and epiphytes (plants growing
in the trees), a relatively open forest floor and a very large number of species of both
plant and animal life. The largest areas of the tropical rainforest are in the Amazon
basic of South America, in the Congo basin and other lowland equatorial regions of Africa,
and on both the mainland and the islands off Southeast Asia where they are especially
abundant in Sumatra and New Guinea. Small areas are found in Central America and along the
Queensland coast of Australia.

temperate, growing in higher-latitude regions having wet,
maritime climates and less extensive than those of the tropical forests. Some of the
notable forests in this category are the northwest of the USA, southern Chile, in Tasmania
and in parts of southeastern Australia and New Zealand.

Most of Central America has rainforests.
In South America, 5 coutries are considered mega-biodiverse:

Colombia

Ecuador

Peru

Brasil

Venezuela

SOME
RAINFOREST QUICK FACTS found in a variety
of places, simplified and organized, sometimes with diverse stats and certainly NOT meant
to be a definitive guide:

Brazil - #1 in bio-diversity,
according to International Preservation in 1997:

55,000 plant species (22% of those on earth)

1st for mammals (524 species)

1st for fresh water fish

1st for insects

1st for Macaws and parrots

Colombia:

1815 species of birds (out of 9000 on earth)

more amphibians than Brazil

#2 in plant species

#3 in reptiles

Ecuador was added to the mega-biodiversity
list because of the variety of eco-systems and diversity due to the Galapagos

Peru:

11 eco-systems, ranging from arid deserts to snow-capped
peaks, from forest clad mountainsides to the tropical rainforests of the lowlands which
are some of the most extensive on earth and producing the 4th largest rainfall on earth

1st for butterflies (3532 species)

2nd for birds (1710 species)

3rd in both vertebrae species (excluding 2873 fish) and
endemic species (350)

4th for mammals (466 species)

has the greatest bio-diversity and density of birds on
earth:

1780 species of birds

18.5% of all bird species on earth

45% of all Neotropical birds

Manu is 1/2 the size of Switzerland; 2/3 is unexplored; 1000
species

in the Peruvian cloud forest every 500 meters of elevation
produces a new species

Miscellaneous and un-organized but interesting
facts:

rain forests cover less than 6% of the earth's total land
surface

rainforests are home for up to three-fourths of all known
species of plans and animals

rain forests have three to four different levels:

emergent layer (top most level; tops of the tallest trees as
tall as 150 feet)

the canopy (tops of trees ranging 60-90 feet tall)

the understory (trees of up to 50 feet tall; trunks of
canopy trees; new trees)